


Clairvoyancy

by violetmessages



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Episode: s01e03 The Unquiet Dead, F/M, Friendship, Gwen has the same psychic abilities as Gwyneth, M/M, Psychic Abilities, the doctor meets team torchwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:33:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26387227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetmessages/pseuds/violetmessages
Summary: The thing is, Gwen’s always been a little...special.In which Gwen has a lot more in common with her ancestors than she realizes.
Relationships: Gwen Cooper & Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper & The Doctor, Gwen Cooper/Rhys Williams, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Comments: 7
Kudos: 37
Collections: Torchwood Fan Fests: Bingo Fest 2020





	Clairvoyancy

The thing is, Gwen’s always been a little...special. 

She’s always been able to win at guessing games, to miraculously choose the right card, to sense what someone’s feeling without them saying it, or to figure out which suspect did it on crime shows. 

She calls it her intuition. Rhys laughs at her and calls it ESP.

It’s mostly limited to smaller things. Gwen can’t correctly guess the winning lottery ticket or predict the future. She’s not psychic and she definitely doesn’t believe in that rubbish. Obviously Gwen doesn’t hear voices in her head or she’d have been sectioned by now. It’s just a feeling she gets, when something seems right

Luckily for her, it comes in handy. She can usually predict which direction a weevil has run off, or know when Jack is open to talking (and a little prodding if needed) versus when he’s in a stroppy mood and will shut himself up in his office, moping. She’s good at reading people. That’s part of the reason she was on track to becoming Sergeant before she joined Torchwood. 

Her intuition is especially useful when she has to talk to victims or question suspects. She smiles widely and projects in her head, _you can talk to me, you can trust me, I want to help you_. She can tell when someone feels guilty, or is on the verge of confessing, and all they need is just a little push. 

People want to be held in confidence. When they talk to someone who projects it, they tend to trust those people. Gwen tries to project that confidence by thinking, _you can talk to me, you can trust me, I want to help you,_ over and over again. She lets that mood bleed out onto everyone around her, so that they trust her with their secrets, regardless of whether they know her or not. 

She doesn’t really think anything of it though. It’s just one of those things that she’s good at. Some people are lucky, some people are unlucky, and Gwen is just intuitive. 

That theory goes out the window the day she meets the Doctor. 

* * *

It’s three in the afternoon and Gwen is getting antsy. There hasn’t been a single rift alert today and she’s bored. Normally, she’d sneak off to visit Rhys in the guise of having lunch, but she’s a little mad at him today. 

They’ve both been a little tetchy with each other lately. Rhys recently got a promotion, but his work hours have started to overlap with her off hours, limited as they are. There’s nothing to be done, other than beg Jack to let her leave early in exchange for a couple overnight shifts. 

She looks around her, hoping to find something to do. Owen’s probably in the Autopsy Bay. Tosh is steadily typing into her computer wearing a Do Not Disturb Me expression. Jack is up in his office, doing reports for the first time in months. Ianto must have gotten to him. He’s also nowhere to be found. 

Gwen pulls out her phone to text Ianto. 

_I’m bored_

_Sux_

_Don’t be a twat._

_I’ve finished all my paperwork._

_Go bother Jack, I’m busy_

_How’d you manage to get Jack to do work???_

_Did you tell him that you wouldn’t put out otherwise?_

_No much worse_

_I threatened to stop making him coffee_

_Cheeky_

_Did you see how Morgan Stoddart played last week?_

_Yes Gwen_

_We watched that match together_

_But I actually have to work now_

_UGH_

_Just ride it out for the next couple hours_

_If I don’t finish this now then we can’t watch the next match today_

_Rift-permitting of course_

_Fine!_

_:)_

Gwen puts away her phone and digs out the crumpled magazine from inside her desk. It’s all tabloid rubbish that she’s read before, but she’s exhausted all of her options. 

She’s just opened up the magazine and started reading when she hears a strange whirring noise, and suddenly a giant blue box appears out of nowhere. The hub alarms go off, and she grabs and cocks her gun.

Tosh has also done the same, and Owen rushes up the stairs holding his own. Gwen holds it out towards the box, mirroring Tosh, when the box opens and a brown haired man in a pinstripe suit pops his head out. 

“Do not move! Hold your hand above your head and state your name, planet of origin, and how you entered the base!” Gwen says firmly. 

“Oh guns! I don’t like guns, they’re very shooty, “ says the stranger, rolling his eyes. 

Gwen doesn’t move her hands. She glances over at Tosh to see if she’s alright, then focuses her attention back on the threat. 

“State your name, planet of origin, and how you entered the base now!” repeats Owen, eyes blazing.

This is the point when their ridiculous Captain, who has never been this slow before, makes his entrance. 

“It’s alright kids, you can put your guns down, it’s just the Doctor,” Jack says beaming. He walks over to him, and crushes him in a hug.

Sufficiently convinced that the stranger isn’t a threat, Gwen lowers the hammer on her gun and walks over to where Tosh and Owen are standing. 

“What the fuck?” she asks. 

“That’s Jack’s doctor?” asks Tosh. 

“The one that he ran after for three months? Maybe?” Owen replies. 

“How’d he get in here?” She asks. 

“He’s got a time travelling box,” says Ianto, who has suddenly appeared. 

“Jesus Fucking Christ! Wear a bell next time!” snarks Owen.

“Sorry,” Ianto says, looking unabashed. “Anyway, that’s him. I recognize him.”

“Hmm,” Gwen says. “I thought he’d be a little older.”

“He’s not that young!” Ianto retorts. 

“Anyways, what’s he doing here then?” Owen asked.

“Do you think he’s going to ask Jack to go with him?” asks Tosh, looking nervous. “We barely got on without him for three months, how are we supposed to do it forever?”

“He said he came back for us,” Gwen says, trying to reassure her. “He wouldn’t just leave.”

“He did last time. Just off and ran, without even leaving a bloody note,” Owen complains. “I guess if he’s actually leaving, we better hire more staff.”

“He’s not-” 

“-Don’t suppose any of us control him,” Ianto says, cutting Gwen off. He looks incredibly sad for a moment, then miraculously schools his impression back to apathetic. 

“Kids!” Jack’s voice echoes over the Hub. “Come over here!”

They walk towards Jack and the Doctor, like dutiful little schoolchildren. 

“This is the Doctor. Doc, this is Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Ianto Jones, and Gwen Cooper.”

“Oh I love a good team! But I’m not too fond of guns. Anyway I just popped in to see Jack and see if I could get back something I lost a couple years ago. I tracked it to your base."

“It’s probably in the Archives then. Ianto?” Jack asks. 

“Of course Sir. The Archives are just this way.” Ianto says, expressionless. Gwen can feel the waves of hurt, doubt, and anger rolling off him, but surprisingly not all directed towards Jack. Some of the anger, she realizes, is directed towards the Doctor. 

“Sounds like fun. Mind if I join?” she asks. She doesn’t want to leave Ianto alone with someone who makes him feel this way. 

Ianto turns to look at the Doctor. 

“Oh not at all, please!” he says exuberantly, and they follow Ianto downstairs into the Archives. 

Reaching the fluorescent-lit entrance of the Archives, Gwen can’t help but shiver. The cool temperature and semi-darkness always makes her think there are a million things hiding in the shadows. 

“If you’d be able to tell me what the object you’re looking for is, I can help you find it a lot faster.” Ianto says stoically. 

“Well, it's a Kahler time-locking device that I got Cassanova to sign. I told Donna that we could go see him in person, but _she_ wanted to spend the day in the Vegas Galaxy. So I thought that I could go hunt down my lost things while she’s there. You know, ironically I never seem to have the time to do these sorts of things. Well I say time when I really mean-”

“-Kahler you said.” Ianto says, cutting him off. “Is that spelled with a K or a C?”

“K in english. But on their planet-” 

“The miscellaneous K section is just over there. It’s marked on the door. I’ll go look in the time devices section. Gwen, if you wouldn’t mind helping our guest?” Ianto asks.

Gwen understands him perfectly. Ianto really means, _I want him gone as soon as possible, but I don’t trust him here alone, so can you please supervise him while I find it quickly_. She nods her head and smiles widely. 

Ianto gives her a smile and gives the Doctor a small nod. Then he turns and walks in the opposite direction. 

“Shall we?” she asks. 

Gwen learns that the Doctor is loud and talkative, but his words offer no substance. Gwen can’t seem to read him properly, which sometimes happens, but never to this extent. She tries to project, thinking _you can trust me_ and _I can keep a secret._

The Doctor finishes his long monologue about Qin Shi Huang, when he looks into her eyes and smiles. 

“Tell me Gwen Cooper, are you from an old Cardiff family?” 

“Uh, Yes.” She says. “All the way back to the 1800’s. Why?”

The Doctor’s smile widens. “No, no, you just remind me of this girl I met in Cardiff on Christmas Eve, 1969. Spatial Genetic Multiplicity. She had the psychic abilities too.”

“Um, what psychic abilities?”

“You know, the ones that you’ve tried to use on me.”

“I don’t have psychic abilities. That’s not real.”

“Let me guess, you’ve always been able to read people’s emotions. You can convince them to trust you without doing much. You can instinctively choose the right answer.”

“Um-”

“-Like I said, psychic abilities. Quite low level, compared to many species, but higher than most humans. You should tell Jack, he has some psychic training too, but not innate like yours.” 

“Uh-”

“Anyways, what was I saying about Qin Shi Huang? Oh yeah-”

Gwen doesn’t really hear the rest of what he’s saying while he looks through the shelves. She’s too busy dealing with the enormous news that he’s just dumped on her. Psychic? 

Ianto comes back, clutching the Doctor’s item and presents it to him. She stares blankly as he shakes Ianto’s hand wildly and proclaims the item as his. 

After the Doctor has left, Ianto comes to her desk. 

“Ready?” he asks. 

“Oh right, the match,” she says absently. “Let me just get my things,”

“What did he say to you?” Ianto asks her. “You’ve not been right since you were alone with him.”

“You’re right,” she says. “Come on, I’ll tell you on the way to the pub.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Kudos/Comments are appreciated.
> 
> Find me on tumblr [here](https://violetmessages.tumblr.com/)


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